Roger Davis died after making an error of judgement

Roger Davis, a community campaigner from Littleborough, died after making an “error of judgement” after he stepped into the road whilst trying to stop traffic, an inquest has heard.

Mr Davis, 73, died on Thursday 19 December after he was hit by a van outside of his home on Milnrow Road.

The inquest into his death heard that Mr Davis was hit by a Vauxhall Astra van as he was trying to help a friend of his wife’s ease her car out into traffic. He was hit at around 4.45pm whilst he was standing in the road holding up a pillow, with which it is believed he had been attempting to signal oncoming traffic.

The driver of the van, Robert Tonks saw a “white thing" in front of him. He tried to do an emergency stop but did not manage to avoid hitting Mr Davis.

Mr Tonks was accompanied in the van at the time by Jason Parsons who agreed with the coroner when asked if Mr Tonks was a careful driver.

Mr Tonks and Mr Parsons went over to Mr Davis to check if he was still breathing but he died shortly after the incident after paramedics could not revive him.

The inquest also heard that Mr Davis was looking in the opposite direction at the time of the accident. He was looking at a vehicle that had gone past him rather than looking in the direction of the oncoming van.

A police investigation found that Mr Tonks was driving within the 30mph speed limit, had no alcohol in his system and his vehicle had no faults.

A post mortem examination gave multiple injuries caused by blunt force trauma as the cause of death and tests confirmed that Mr Davis had not had any drugs or alcohol in his system at the time which might have impaired his judgement.

The coroner went on to record a verdict of accidental death.

Mr Davis was a member of the Friends of Hollingworth Lake and the Littleborough Canalside Development Group and was a campaigner against plans for homes to be built on the former Akzo Nobel site in Littleborough. He also regularly attended Pennine Township Committee meetings and during a meeting in January this year, councillors and those in attendance held a minute's silence in his honour.

http://rochdaleonline.co.uk/news-features/2/news-headlines/84439/roadtraffic-victim-named-as-roger-davis